The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has said updated fee schedules will make medical assessments related to compensation claims more accessible and fairer for veterans.
The changes, announced by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), will boost funding for veterans accessing compensation assessments from a GP by more than 30%, bringing DVA rates into line with comparable compensation schemes and ensuring they will be indexed annually from 1 July 2026.
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright said the uplift recognises the time, expertise, and administrative effort required of GPs when preparing compensation related reports.
"Veterans deserve timely, high quality medical assessments to support their compensation claims," he said.
"These changes acknowledge the complexity of this work and provide fairer funding for veterans, and for the specialist GPs who support veterans through the claims process.
"This will help ensure veterans can access the medical evidence they need for their claims, while supporting GPs to deliver this complex and important work. We will continue to monitor the impact on access to care and advocate for broader reforms to strengthen the general practice workforce."
Key changes include:
- Consultations and visits: Fees are now set at approximately 13–14% above comparable Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) GP attendance items. For example, a short consultation under 20 minutes will attract $49.90 compared to $43.90 under MBS
- Overall uplift: GP compensation consultation and visit fees have increased by 34–35% applying consistently across short, medium, and long consultations, as well as home and hospital visits
- Administrative tasks: Dedicated funding is now available for completion of medical forms ($19.77 per page) and clinical notes (ranging from $40.28 to $217.87 depending on complexity). Unlike the MBS, which only funds care during a consultation, the DVA schedule recognises the time GPs spend and administrative workload for compensation assessments
- Billing structure: One item number from each of the three schedules can be billed per request, ensuring clarity and consistency
The increase represents a once off reset rather than routine indexation. Previous DVA compensation fees had not kept pace with rising practice costs, wage growth, or the growing medical legal complexity of compensation.
The revised schedule addresses this under indexation and more accurately reflects the responsibilities associated with preparing compensation related information.
"GPs have long said compensation assessments are highly technical and time-consuming," Dr Wright said.
"Aligning the funding available to GPs and veterans more closely with workload will help to improve efficiency and continuity of care and support veterans navigating compensation pathways with their GP.
"We hope the improved funding incentivises more specialist GPs to provide this care, encourages veterans to see their usual treating GP, and reduces delays in claims processing."
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